Futuring: a look to the future

New technologies like AI, XR, edge and quantum are enabling impactful applications. What does this mean for education and research institutions? With futuring, we look ahead and respond to developments faster and more efficiently. In this way, we jointly make better strategic choices for the future.

Futuring at SURF

Futuring

Futuring is the process of looking at the future to understand what it might look like. For example, what will the campus look like in 2040? And what new technologies do we see coming? What are examples of applications for education and/or research? By exploring this together, we can discuss possible, desirable and likely futures.

Impact on tomorrow

With our futuring activities, we want to get a broader picture of future developments and their possible impact. We identify relevant trends, we explore and experiment with new technologies, and we work out future scenarios of the campus in 2040. This way, we anticipate future developments, and know better what decisions we can take in the short term.

Joint initiatives

Together with education and research institutions, SURF participates in various initiatives around futuring, with the institutions in their role as research institutes and SURF in its role as knowledge distributor. This is how we jointly drive innovation and work together on plans for the future.

SURF's futuring activities:

New technologies

SURF Tech Trends 2023 Cover

Discover new technologies from SURF Tech Trends 2023. The report on trends for education and research.

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Future Campus

Future Campus

Join or be inspired by the Future Campus project, where we will look for the answer to the question: what will the campus look like in 2040?

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Next Gen Futuring programme

Foto: Monique Kooijmans

More on SURF's Next Gen futuring programme, in which young people aged 13-16 gave their vision of the future in education.



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Stay up to date with SURF's futuring activities. We will inform you every quarter about developments around new technologies and project progress.

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July 2023

April 2023

Contact us at

futuring@surf.nl